How Canucks video coach Dylan Crawford broke into hockey in his own way

Vancouver — Dylan Crawford, who decided to give his name in hockey, used an alias.

Young Crawford, the son of Marc Crawford, a boy who coached Canax for seven years at the beginning of the century when Dylan was a boy and Vancouver returned home, was told by anyone in the hockey crazy family when he applied for his first pro. Coaching work that I didn’t even say.

He also did not tell the future employer of Binghamton Senators who he was when he applied for a video coaching position in 2016.

“I was still using my name, but I used my mother’s maiden name, Kampo,” Dylan said this week, a few days after Kanax appointed him a new video coach. “I know, but I’m not very smart. I wish it was more exciting.

“I applied under a different name, but the qualifications are the same. After all, only Randy Lee, the general manager at the time, knew who I was, but the coaching staff I didn’t know. The big thing for me was to do it for my own benefit. Mark told me and my sister that you wouldn’t put anything in your name. You Makes it your own way. He knows how novel it is and how difficult it is to name it when something is already attached, so maybe I’m entering this business I guarantee you didn’t really want to do it. “

Marc Crawford, who was recently fired as an assistant coach in Chicago during the Blackhawks regime change, is worried about his son working in such a volatile industry on Sportsnet, but with Dylan’s abilities. He said he believes that “service” is out of the spotlight and acts as a video coach, helping him build a long career.

Eight years after being fired by Colorado Avalanche despite being fired by Canax in 2006 and bringing the original Stanley Cup to Denver, Elder Crawford coached two seasons in Los Angeles and then two seasons in Dallas. After serving as, I started my career with four people. -Coached Auston Matthews in 2015-16 on a one-year mission in the Swiss League.

Crawford was subsequently appointed as an Associate Coach for the Ottawa Senators. So when Dylan approached the minor league team in Binghamton, NY about his position as a video coach that summer, he felt the need to hide.

When he finally told his father what was happening, he said Mark’s reaction was “you will be the hardest person there.” It’s one of the methods we’ve always been taught. When I was 12, Mark sent me to my cousin’s farm for a week or two to do those jobs. And when I was 15 or 16, I was washing dishes at a restaurant in North Vancouver. Because he had no way to sit. “

Dylan’s dishwashing job was Lonsdale Quay’s Soup Meister.

“I had a great boss,” he said. “I won’t tell you his nickname, but you can probably guess by looking at Seinfeld.”

Crawford’s efforts have been rewarded.

Mark and Helen Crawford have been home for years before he attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in North Vancouver and attended a two-year broadcast at BCIT in Burnaby. Dylan began his video career on the NHL network.

“I focused from the basic editors of the NHL network, and finally from the supervisors to the associate producers,” said the 32-year-old. “I was on the go and was in charge of interviews during the period, and was also responsible for organizing the highlight packages and stuff that I see during and after the match. And that’s probably the idea of ​​going into video coaching. Is the place where was born.

“My uncle Eric was a video coach in Vancouver when Mark was there. It was always in that position and like my dream job of starting video coaching.”

Eric Crawford moved from coaching to scouting and spent 16 years at Canax. He is currently responsible for professional scouting in Montreal Canadiens. Dylan’s other uncle, Lou Crawford, is a professional scout for Canax.

Dylan has spent the last four seasons as an assistant video coach for the Blackhawks. He went to Chicago a year before his father and interviewed Canax’s Bruce Baudlow coach and general manager Patrick Allbin before getting a job in Vancouver this spring.

Mark said no one in Canax contacted him during the hiring process.

“I had so many people talk about how good he is, and it’s just proud of you,” Mark said of his son. “Both his wife and I are very proud of Dylan in that respect, because his father was so stupid. He is chasing his mother more than his father, so we are him. I am very proud of.

“He has a really good personality. He likes people. And you become a video coach and interact with so many players and coaches, staff and senior managers, scouts, and all of them. If you’re going, you’d better be a person. He’s definitely that. He doesn’t have summer and winter crows. He only has Dylan and he’s a pretty good boy. “

Samark Crow and Winter Crow were what reporters called Mark when he coached Canax, and his personality was different when the hockey season began. Think of Eveneza Scrooge before and after Christmas Eve.

When asked what he thinks about his son’s dodging his surname to get his first job, Mark says: He wanted to make sure he was trying to find his way. “

Dylan always wanted to go to Canax and find a way back to Vancouver. In 1999, when his father was coaching on behalf of Mike Keenan, Dylan went out on ice at the Rogers Arena after practice, shot from Brendan Morrison, and received goalkeeping instruction from Ian Clark. I remember that.

Except for the challenge of finding affordable homes for him and his wife, Katrina, he is excited about his new job.

“You should be excited when people like Jim Rutherford (President of Canax) are in command,” Dylan said. “If you look at him in HockeyDB, you can’t be excited about what he brings, and the same is true for everyone he brings. For example, Patrick Allbin walks his way and We have a vision of what this team will be like, and the way they built the front office is not only progressive as stated, but also free-thinking and different-minded individuals. There are no ideas or means that are not considered to reach the final goal.

“Deeply, I really wanted to get involved in the game. As you said, it’s a family business, but I couldn’t really understand where my niche was, but then. Looking back at my uncle Eric, the video aspect really worked.

“I might have lived a normal average Joe-type life, but there’s nothing like the ability to go to the skating rink every day, watch hockey at the professional level, and help the team. Get better. You can’t get it anywhere else. “

Baby crow takes off.